--- title: Tim Cook's farewell memo is warm, vague, and says... description: Tim Cook's final memo to Apple employees, published by 9to5Mac, is warm and emotional but avoids the company's hardest problems: AI, where Apple lags and Siri... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/tim-cook-s-farewell-memo-is-warm-vague-and-says-nothing-about-ai-or-china-bcsjrdqqy twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Tim Cook's farewell memo is warm, vague, and says nothing about AI or China | daily.dev og:description: Tim Cook's final memo to Apple employees, published by 9to5Mac, is warm and emotional but avoids the company's hardest problems: AI, where Apple lags and Siri... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/tim-cook-s-farewell-memo-is-warm-vague-and-says-nothing-about-ai-or-china-bcsjrdqqy og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/BCsJrDQqy.png og:image:alt: Tim Cook's farewell memo is warm, vague, and says nothing about AI or China og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Tim Cook's farewell memo is warm, vague, and says nothing about AI or China **[Trends](https://daily.dev/sources/trends)** · 2 min read · 32 upvotes · 14 comments ## Summary Tim Cook's final memo to Apple employees, published by 9to5Mac, is warm and emotional but avoids the company's hardest problems: AI, where Apple lags and Siri features are blocked in the EU under the DMA; China, where Cook built complicated geopolitical relationships; and services antitrust pressure. Cook steps down as CEO but stays as executive chairman, retaining regulatory and political relationships, while hardware-focused John Ternus takes over mid-product-cycle with a new Mac mini, iMac, MacBook Pro, Home Hub tablet, Apple TV 4K, and HomePod mini all pending. ## Content Tim Cook is out after 15 years. John Ternus, 51, a mechanical engineer who joined Apple in 2001 and has run hardware engineering since 2013, is now CEO. Cook stays on as executive chairman at $2M salary and a $45M equity target, handling regulatory relationships with the EU and China. Ternus gets $3M base and a $55M equity target, three-quarters tied to Apple's performance against the S&P 500. The transition is being framed as continuity. Cook's farewell memo quoted Jobs' "dent in the universe" line and said nothing about AI, Siri's struggles, China, or the Epic v. Apple Supreme Court case currently threatening App Store economics. Ternus's first memo teased a "huge launch next week" — the September 9 iPhone event, reportedly headlining Apple's first foldable and a broader Siri rebuild on top of Google Gemini, after Apple settled a $250M class action over AI features it marketed before they worked. The executive shuffle underneath the CEO swap is worth watching. Phil Schiller stepped down from running the App Store — which he'd steered through the Epic litigation — becoming an Apple Fellow in what insiders read as a prelude to full retirement. The App Store moves back to Eddy Cue's services empire, where it sat before 2015, right as it faces maximum legal pressure from both the EU's Digital Markets Act and the Supreme Court. Cue is now arguably the most powerful executive at Apple below Ternus. Also out: COO Jeff Williams, general counsel Kate Adams, environment VP Lisa Jackson, Apple Pay head Jennifer Bailey, and Vision Pro exec Paul Meade. The hardware argument Ternus is making is interesting and a little risky. Apple is entering foldables seven years after Samsung's first Galaxy Fold. The autumn lineup drops the standard iPhone entirely until spring 2027, leaving only Pro, Pro Max, and the foldable. The pitch seems to be: new form factors buy time while Siri catches up. Whether that works depends almost entirely on the 2027 slate — AI smart glasses reportedly in testing with four frame designs — and whether Gemini-powered Siri can close the gap on Pixel's integration before the next upgrade cycle. First engineer-CEO since Jobs. First product event in nine days. The clock is already running. ## Questions this post answers ### Who is Apple's new CEO after Tim Cook stepped down? John Ternus, Apple's 51-year-old hardware engineering chief since 2013, became CEO after Tim Cook's farewell memo on September 1. Ternus joined Apple in 2001 as a mechanical engineer and is the first engineer to lead Apple as CEO since Steve Jobs. Cook remains as executive chairman handling policy and regulatory relations. _Track major leadership shifts like Apple's CEO transition as they reshape tech companies on daily.dev._ ### What happened to Phil Schiller's role at Apple's App Store? Phil Schiller, App Store chief since 2015 and a 38-year Apple veteran, stepped back to an 'Apple Fellow' role widely seen as pre-retirement. App Store operations now move to Carson Oliver, with the whole division shifting into Eddy Cue's services group after an 11-year gap, right as the App Store faces the Epic v. Apple Supreme Court case and EU Digital Markets Act scrutiny. _Developers watching App Store policy shifts can follow leadership changes affecting platform rules on daily.dev._ ### How much equity and salary does Tim Cook get as Apple's executive chairman? Tim Cook receives a $2 million salary plus a $45 million equity target as Apple's executive chairman, focusing on policymaker relations including the EU Digital Markets Act, antitrust scrutiny, and government relations with the US and China. New CEO John Ternus gets $3 million base pay and a $55 million equity target, three-quarters tied to shareholder return versus the S&P 500. _Follow executive compensation and governance shifts at major tech companies on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@pwitham** · 5 upvotes > Time will tell on this one but personally I think what Apple really needs right now is frankly, someone with a personality that people can not only relate to, but get behind. Tim was Corp. through and through and I think it alienated whilst filling the pockets of the already rich. Just my two cents. **@jakemctigue** · 4 upvotes > I remember when Steve Jobs was the CEO of Apple for the second time and I remember buying my first iPhone when he was still the CEO. His uncompromising stand with AT&T for unlimited data on the iPhone was what made the product an unqualified success, among other features such as an actual functional touchscreen and native Outlook integration for small businesses without having to have a BlackBerry messaging server installed. **@deentap** · 1 upvotes > Good Luck 👍🏻🍀 **@jamrsone** · 0 upvotes > Tim Cook finally realizes that he's not Steve Jobs. Fuck him. **@akkitto** · 0 upvotes > Guy got cooked. --- Tags: [#apple](https://daily.dev/tags/apple), [#leadership](https://daily.dev/tags/leadership) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/tim-cook-s-farewell-memo-is-warm-vague-and-says-nothing-about-ai-or-china-bcsjrdqqy) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Tim Cook's farewell memo is warm, vague, and says nothing about AI or China","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/tim-cook-s-farewell-memo-is-warm-vague-and-says-nothing-about-ai-or-china-bcsjrdqqy","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/tim-cook-s-farewell-memo-is-warm-vague-and-says-nothing-about-ai-or-china-bcsjrdqqy"},"datePublished":"2026-08-31T17:16:45.803Z","dateModified":"2026-09-05T10:39:32.293Z","description":"Tim Cook's final memo to Apple employees, published by 9to5Mac, is warm and emotional but avoids the company's hardest problems: AI, where Apple lags and Siri...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/4c34999b58358294ae01b12d1c3fbfc0?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/4c34999b58358294ae01b12d1c3fbfc0?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Trends","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Trends","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--ZfSp3asX--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996004/logos/trends?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/trends"},"commentCount":14,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/tim-cook-s-farewell-memo-is-warm-vague-and-says-nothing-about-ai-or-china-bcsjrdqqy","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":31},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":14}],"keywords":"apple,leadership","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trends","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/trends"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Tim Cook's farewell memo is warm, vague, and says nothing about AI or China"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/tim-cook-s-farewell-memo-is-warm-vague-and-says-nothing-about-ai-or-china-bcsjrdqqy","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Time will tell on this one but personally I think what Apple really needs right now is frankly, someone with a personality that people can not only relate to, but get behind. Tim was Corp. through and through and I think it alienated whilst filling the pockets of the already rich. Just my two cents.","datePublished":"2026-09-01T02:29:11.228Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/BCsJrDQqy#c-qkpX7Km6G","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Peter Witham","url":"https://daily.dev/pwitham","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--PV27VbEH--/f_auto/v1767215591/avatars/avatar_zSPHgbmgf?_a=BAMAK+ZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I remember when Steve Jobs was the CEO of Apple for the second time and I remember buying my first iPhone when he was still the CEO. His uncompromising stand with AT&T for unlimited data on the iPhone was what made the product an unqualified success, among other features such as an actual functional touchscreen and native Outlook integration for small businesses without having to have a BlackBerry messaging server installed.","datePublished":"2026-08-31T18:50:44.374Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/BCsJrDQqy#c-gEWEXpCXg","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"J. Jake McTigue","url":"https://daily.dev/jakemctigue","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKgmy-8vn0jlJenJfFupoxJ5bkEpS8WiDcRMGJYRg0JUJi2DCE=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Good Luck 👍🏻🍀","datePublished":"2026-09-01T01:21:41.520Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/BCsJrDQqy#c-PVfHY13us","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Dennis E. Tapan","url":"https://daily.dev/deentap","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fTLbiIdT--/f_auto/v1728137738/avatars/avatar_vpjoVLUFD9Sq99ZIXxnS2"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Tim Cook finally realizes that he’s not Steve Jobs. Fuck him.","datePublished":"2026-09-01T17:39:00.479Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/BCsJrDQqy#c-fj7mEHcX7","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris B","url":"https://daily.dev/jamrsone","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/33075219?v=4"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Guy got cooked.","datePublished":"2026-09-01T14:46:13.651Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/BCsJrDQqy#c-HhxGu7Ryv","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel","url":"https://daily.dev/akkitto","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--FtwJqX4c--/f_auto/v1754900041/avatars/avatar_29TCpY2hJR72V3BlxPXzX?_a=BAMClqZW0"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/tim-cook-s-farewell-memo-is-warm-vague-and-says-nothing-about-ai-or-china-bcsjrdqqy#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Who is Apple's new CEO after Tim Cook stepped down?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"John Ternus, Apple's 51-year-old hardware engineering chief since 2013, became CEO after Tim Cook's farewell memo on September 1. 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